Pros

Cons

Can't manually select servers.
Only offers U.S.-based servers.

Bottom Line

SpotFlux Premium keeps the same network performance and easy-to-use interface as its free VPN service, and adds unique features such as advanced malware protection and ad blocking.
Users can't go wrong with this VPN service, as long as they don't need servers based outside the United States.

28 Apr 2017Fahmida Y. Rashid

With a virtual private network or VPN, you can rest assured that your web traffic is secure against scammers and spying by three-letter agencies—including your ISP. Spotflux Premium offers that protection, and more, at a great price. It doesn't have the most robust service, however, nor does it offer the advanced features some users might see as a requirement. Better to spend an extra dollar per month and try out Editors' Choice winner KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, or spend a few more dollars for the other winners in this category: NordVPN and Private Internet Access.

What Is a VPN?

Activating a VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between your computer and a server controlled by the VPN service. Your web traffic passes through the encrypted tunnel before exiting out to the wider internet. Assuming that you're accessing sites secured with HTTPS, your data remains encrypted from start to finish.

This means that if you're using a shifty, unsecured wireless network (I'm looking at you, local coffee shop), no one else on the network will be able to peek at your online activities. When VPN companies offer custom DNS protection, they can even thwart a malicious network created explicitly to serve you bogus phishing sites designed to steal your information.

Out on the web, no one can see your IP address, either. Instead, they see the IP address of the VPN server to which you are connected. That's great, because noting IP addresses is an easy way for advertisers and others to track your movements across the web.

VPNs are also used to circumvent censorship, and they let journalists and political dissidents stay connected with the outside world. On a less noble note, you can also use a VPN to spoof your location and gain access to region-locked streaming content. Want to stream BBC shows, but don't live in the UK? A VPN can help. Netflix is fighting back against this kind of cheating, however, as are other services, so this may not work much longer.

Pricing and Features

Spotflux currently offers desktop clients for macOS and Windows. That's a short list, considering that many other VPN services also support Linux, as well as routers and even set-top streaming boxes like the Apple TV. Spotflux does offer apps for both Android and iOS, however. Editors' Choice winner KeepSolid VPN Unlimited supports all those platforms, plus Linux, and offers browser plugins for Firefox and Chrome.

The paid Spotflux Premium subscription costs $37.99 a year or $4.99 a month. You can, however, opt to purchase the Mobile Only plan for $29.99 a year. This mobile-only plan is unique among VPN services I've reviewed, and it's an interesting option, though most people will probably want to protect at least one PC.

A Premium subscription covers a total of five PCs and mobile devices, divided up however you like. That's a good number of licenses, and it's on par with what's provided by competitors. You can, however, choose to pay nothing and use the free version called, aptly, Spotflux Free VPN. There aren't many free VPNs out there, and most come with strings attached. Spotflux is not an exception.

In addition to the protection afforded by using a VPN, Spotflux also blocks ads and phishing sites. Ad-blocking is a rare feature among VPNs, but Editors' Choice winner Private Internet Access includes it and costs only a little more than Spotflux. A free Spotflux account won't give you access to ad-blocking or phishing tools. Free accounts also can't switch VPN server locations. You really do get what you pay for.

One of the most important stats I look at when reviewing a VPN is how many servers it provides and where those servers are located. More servers means that you're more likely to find one that's not overburdened with other users. More server locations means that, no matter where you go, you'll be able to get better performance by connecting to a nearby VPN server. Lots of servers also means more options for spoofing your location.

Spotflux tells me that at peak time, its number of servers swells to more than 500. That's not a lot, these days. Private Internet Access offers more than 3,000 servers, and has server locations in just about every place you'd ever want to go. Spotflux only offers servers in a handful of locations: France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, the UK, and the US. That leaves entire continents without a nearby server. It also doesn't provide much for users in places like China, Russia, and Turkey, which have notably repressive restrictions concerning internet access. I definitely prefer to see a robust service with lots of locations and available servers.

To create a secure connection, Spotflux uses the IKEv2 protocol on iOS, and OpenVPN for Android, macOS, and Windows devices. I'm pleased to see the company using these newer, more secure protocols and especially pleased to see the widespread use of the open-source OpenVPN.

That said, I'm disappointed that Spotflux does not allow BitTorrent on its servers. While many (perhaps most) people use torrents to download copyrighted content, it's also a valuable tool with many aboveboard uses. If BitTorrenting is your primary concern, you'll want to look at TorGuard. This VPN service is all about torrenting, and it includes useful extras like a high-speed 10 gigabit network and static IP addresses.

Because each country has its own laws governing how companies handle user data, and how much they must retain to comply with investigations, it's good to at least know what laws apply to the VPN company you choose. A representative told me that Spotflux is owned by the US-based Invincea Inc, which has been acquired by the UK company Sophos. The UK does, indeed, have mandatory data retention laws while the US does not. At the moment, it's unclear what this means for Spotflux and for your data, which may put off some potential users. I'll update this review if the company clarifies this. Editors' Choice winner NordVPN, by contrast, operates out of the jurisdiction of Panama in an effort to provide users with the most privacy.

Some VPN services monetize their offerings by injecting ads into your web traffic. Spotflux's representative assured me that Spotflux does not inject ads, nor does it profit from user data. That's a relief, as consumers are becoming more sensitive to the fact that many technology companies sell user data.

I always also take a look to see if I can access Netflix while a particular VPN service is active. With Spotflux VPN, the site simply timed out. That's not normal behavior, not even when Netflix is blocking me for using a VPN. It's also indicative of my experience with Spotflux.

Hands On With Spotflux Premium

In my testing, I used Spotflux installed on a Lenovo ThinkPad T460s laptop running Windows 10. Spotflux Premium is very easy to set up and use. Just download and install the client software from the Spotflux website, purchase the Premium plan, and you're online. You mostly interact with the service through the Spotflux app, which consists of a white window locked to the bottom corner of the screen. You summon it from the system tray, which is similar to how Private Internet Access works.

A slider activates or deactivates VPN protection, and a menu lets you choose from the nine available server locations. I particularly like how clear the app is. It shows which protections are active, how many ads have been blocked, and how much data has been compressed. A small field displays the status, such as connecting to the server, obtaining IP address, and being connected.

When I first reviewed Spotflux Premium, the company only had servers in the US. Thankfully, that's no longer the case, and you can choose from several access points the world over. But that improvement seems to have stagnated, as the service has only a handful of servers. I was disappointed that the Autoselect feature, which should find the best available VPN server, didn't working in my testing. Your mileage may vary.

Spotflux strives for simplicity, but that comes at a cost. With NordVPN, for example, you can see the latency time on different servers, and you can select specialty servers, including double-encryption, Tor-over-VPN, and high-speed servers for video streaming. TunnelBear has a decidedly simple interface, but is colorful and friendly. Spotflux doesn't include these extras or flair, and security pros will probably be frustrated by its inflexibility.

A VPN's main job is ensuring that your web traffic gets where it's supposed to go without being intercepted by someone else. Spotflux claims to go even further, scrubbing the traffic as it passes through its servers, removing ads, tracking cookies, and malware. In my testing, I navigated to several websites and noticed that some ads were being removed. Not all ads were scrubbed, however. If you want to see absolutely no advertising, you'll want a third-party ad blocker.

Speed and Performance

Even the fastest VPN service is likely to slow down your internet connection, but how much the connection gets degraded varies by provider. To try and get a sense for that impact, I perform a series of trials using the Ookla speed test tool. (Note that Ookla is owned by PCMag's publisher, Ziff Davis.) In my tests, I take the average results from Ookla both with and without a VPN running, and compare them to find a percent change. While network performance can change dramatically depending on the time of day and manner in which the test is carried out, my tests work as a snapshot of how using a VPN could change your experience.

I perform these tests twice: once while connected to a nearby VPN to maximize speed and reliability, and again when connected to a VPN server in Australia and an Ookla test server in Anchorage, Alaska. The first round of tests is similar to how most people will use their VPN, while the second round is meant as a stress test, putting enormous distances between the locations.

In the past few weeks, I've run these tests dozens of times and had no problems, but my tests with Spotflux simply failed to work when connected to an Australian server. The company determined that this was due to a corrupted DNS entry in their software, and I was able test successfully after reinstalling it. However, the Autoselect feature no longer functioned correctly after that. This is the first time I've had these kinds of issues testing a VPN service.

That said, when it did work, Spotflux delivered solid and occasionally exceptional speed test results. In the domestic tests, I found that Spotflux increased latency by 20 percent. Hide My Ass VPN has the best score in this test, increasing latency by only 5.6 percent. Spotflux slowed downloads by 5.4 percent, which is again in the middle of the pack. Except for PureVPN and AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Elite; these services actually improved download speeds, by 346.4 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Spotflux slowed uploads by 7.5 percent, which is in line with the rest of the pack. PureVPN delivered the best results, eroding upload times by only 4.9 percent.

After my troubles with Spotflux, I was happy to see it perform well in the international tests. I found it increased latency by 267.5 percent. Hotspot Shield Elite has the best score in this test, increasing latency by just 155.4 percent. It slowed the connection by 10.4 percent, a good score compred to the competition for this test. PureVPN, which earned an Editors' Choice award for its speed scores, actually improved download speeds by 403.8 percent. Spotflux eroded upload speeds by 8.9 percent; another solidly average score. Hotspot Shield Elite sneaked in a victory here, improving upload speeds by 1.4 percent.

Good, Not Great

When PCMag first tested Spotflux, it didn't deliver a stellar product, but was an exciting newcomer that seemed to be making an effort at creating a clean, friendly product before the rest of the competition had grasped the idea. While I'm happy that Spotflux continues to put emphasis on ease of use, and provides unique security features, it's disappointing that the service hasn't otherwise evolved. Other services are simply offering more options for only slightly higher prices, and they offer more robust services to boot. Spotflux is an acceptable product at an attractive price, but if you're looking for an excellent VPN, look to our Editors' Choice Winners: KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, NordVPN, and Private Internet Access.

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Fahmida Y. Rashid is a senior analyst for business at PCMag.com. She focuses on ways businesses can use technology to work efficiently and easily. She is paranoid about security and privacy, and considers security implications when evaluating business technology. She has written for eWEEK, Dark Reading, and SecurityWeek covering security, core Internet infrastructure, and open source.